The Queen and The Prince
by Arowl Silverstein
Summary: Alice loves Artemis? The Queen is dead! Cheshire did what? The Prince of Hearts never thought that this was possible. Rated M for possible future scenes.
1. Prologue Hot Chocolate Memoirs

Wowie. It's been a while, eh? Well, I'm back for now. My stories will probably be every other week uploads, considering I now attend an Arts school. Yes, I know. I need to edit my profile.

That is my next project.

Well, I needed a project to work on to keep my fingers going, keep them nimble on the keyboard. (After five weeks of poetry you really need something to keep your creative juices flowing)

I want to know what you all think. Try to keep in mind that this is an experiment. It's hard to work with the Cheshire Cat. And if any of you think that the names should be different for the Queens, please tell me.

R&R!

Love, Arowl.

**Prologue**

**Point of View: The Prince of Hearts, Artemis**

"Mmm, hot chocolate."

I looked up at my aunt, the Queen of Spades, her true name being Phoebe. We were sitting in my mother's garden, hidden behind the plaster horses, mugs of the chocolate liquid in our hands. Her jet black hair was pulled back tightly, her beautiful eyes focusing down on me as she smiled broadly.

Cheshire was curled at my feet, only a kitten at the time, his thick purple stripes covering up the soft black that was starting to show. I remembered when he was born, to a tortoise shell cat and a magician. We still are not sure how that one went around, but we believed that the cat was turned human first.

There was a soft silence around the carousel, the snow drifting around us placidly. In the distance, we could hear my mother's shrill voice, her command anything but ordinary for what a queen was supposed to be.

"Aunt Phoebe?" my voice was so weak back then. "Why did my mom order my head off?"

My aunt nearly gagged on her hot chocolate, laughing suddenly. "She did?" When I didn't reply, she laughed again, her laugh sounding like bells compared to my mother's harsh one. "Oh, Artemis, she's just a little eccentric, and over reactive. Karen does love you."

"I know that! But why is she so mean all the time, to even her guards?"

The Queen of Spades wrapped her arms around me. She smelled of juniper blossoms and honeysuckle tea. "She just has a different way of showing her love."

That is when I concurred that my life was going to be a tough one. I was five at the time.


	2. Chapter 1 Welcome To Wonderland

Hey everyone. So, I wish you all would review. I will try to reply as often as possible.

I'm glad at least two people read the story. -.-.

So anyway, this chapter brings in our beloved Alice, and puts some insight on Cheshire and Artemis. Try to keep in mind, Alice is 10 when she enters Wonderland, and Artemis is 11. So, they are only a year apart.

Yay!

Okies, gotta go now.

Loves, Arowl.

**

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****Chapter I**

**Point of View: The Prince of Hearts, Artemis**

I was unknown when Alice first came to Wonderland. I was eleven. I was there during her trial, and I followed her journey from the beginning, considering Cheshire was my tutor that day. See, every member of the royal family was tutored throughout their life by the whole of the land. My two favorite tutors were Cheshire and the Mad Hatter.

"You fight like your father!" Cheshire snapped. "Like a girl!" I noticed the flick in his wrist as he turned the blade. There was a slight change in his stance which I realized the charge he was about to make.

That was when we heard her voice. A soft twinkle, like my aunt's voice, but like a younger, sweeter bell.

"Now which way should I go?"

I saw Cheshire grin, digging his ornately decorated rapier into the soft, moldy dirt, telling me to stay hidden before he loped off, pulling himself into a tree, his human form slowly shifting into the purple striped cat. He enjoyed making people uneasy. After their brief exchange, full of mind bending riddles, I watched as the sleek bodied, overgrown cat walked up to me, grinning broadly.

"You confused her," I said as I sheathed my rapier, glaring at him before looking away.

He shrugged as he returned to the human form.

"So where'd you send her?"

Cheshire grinned maniacally then, showing off his sharp teeth.

"Daryl's place."

"Oh," I mumbled quietly.

The Mad Hatters.

"You done?" I asked as I stood. "I want to get back home."

"No." He looked at me. "You're going to follow that girl, make sure she doesn't catch you, okay?"

"Why me?"

"Cause you're the one in training." And with that, my mentor disappeared, leaving me alone in the middle of Wonderland's Forest.

Daryl, the Mad Hatter, was my Philosophy and History tutor. Philosophy was a slow class, but History Daryl was always excited about. Tea Time was his favorite time to teach as well. I could hear him in the distance and I clenched my fists, running then. I stuck to the brush as I ran, feeling the branches reach out to grab me as I did so.

The girl would not last long if she was left alone here.

It was Wonderland, after all.


	3. This Is A Notice

Okay, look guys.

I need reviews.

I attend an Art school, where I get reviews from people my age to better my writing. Reviews keep the writing coming, keeps it fresh. I already have the second chapter written out, but I have no idea about the third or the fourth. Sure, I know the plot, but I need constructive criticism. PLEASE REVIEW. I beg of you. And it does take a lot for me to beg.

And I realize, posting in an Alice in Wonderland part of the site isn't the best idea, but it's the only idea I have right now. This fic will probably be very short in the end if the reviews don't start coming in, or I'll take it down all together.

I also plan to take down the rest of my stories and start fresh.

Entirely.

So I want ideas. Please.

Thank you.

Loves, Arowl.


	4. Chapter 2 The Mad Tea Party

Well, this is a chapter from Alice's point of view. Not much to say.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Point of View – The Unknown Queen, Alice**

This place was utterly unbearable. And now, I stood in front of this tea table.

"No room! No room!" They cried out.

I sighed inwardly. "There's _plenty _of room!" Of course. I could have guessed they would have said something to that effect.

That's when I noticed _him. _He sat high in a tree overlooking the tea party, his silver eyes staring down at me. Around his neck hung what looked to be a normal playing card's heart on a black leather strap. He was wearing some strange, blue pants that had faded in the front. He was in a black shirt, as well, and there was a sword hanging on his belt. I nearly gasped when I noticed him, but blinked and he was gone in a flash.

My hands stretched a bit before I took a deep breath. I sat down in the large armchair.

"Have some wine!" The man known as the Mad Hatter said.

I tried to ignored him from then on. When I finally left, I heard a new voice talking to the group, rather roughly.

"You can't put Terrance into the tea kettle!" The person was yelling and when I looked back at them, I saw the silver eyed person pulling the Dormouse out of the tea kettle and setting him on his feet. Er, paws.

It wasn't the last time I saw him, either.

When I managed to wander into a garden next, and he was sitting on the wall, the only missing person out of the procession of people that were walking by. Many of them were Cards, what I soon learned they were, but there were ten children that were being followed by the King and Queen.

But before I had spotted him, there was this ordeal about the roses being painted red. I was not entirely sure what happened in the end, but the Queen was awfully fond of beheading people. So I just went along with the flow. They stopped once and asked who I was, and I nearly was beheaded, but as the Queen looked up, when she spotted the boy that I had, she stuttered and revoked the punishment.

"I want Artemis down," she whispered to her closest guard before she continued on, but not before inviting me along with them.

I soon realized that the boy was following us, taking his time. He was the missing person, of course, and I realized soon that he was the prince. His eyes flickered to me a few times, and soon he was joined by a tall man with all black and purple on, the man grinning maniacally when he spotted me and I soon recognized him as the Cheshire Cat.

Forcing my eyes down, I never saw him again, not once.


	5. Chapter 3 Meeting The Prince

Hey everyone! I'm so glad people have been reading this!

Well, I'm going to become slower. I was commissioned to direct a One Act that I wrote in a month so I will be busy getting that ready.

I promise that I will post as often as possible.

As for this chapter, I have been coming up with a few ideas for random things. And this one may seem like it is a bit jumbled and confusing because I was half asleep. Sorry about that.

Thanks for reading!

Loves

Arowl

**

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****Chapter 3**

**Point of View – The Prince of Hearts, Artemis**

"Prince!" I sighed softly when I heard my title called out. Cheshire was near. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, not wanting to sit up just yet. He smirked a bit before leaning down, inches away from my face. "Prince Artemis," he said, grinning. His breath smelled like rancid shellfish and I gagged, kicking him away.

"Wake up, it's time to go. You are to return today…" It had been nearly ten years since I had last seen that girl. I had been taken over seas a month after she returned to her world, and I spent most of my time there, and now Cheshire and I were meandering our way back to Wonderland. He had spent his time there, and came to get me about a week before this date. I was in my last class of Philosophy in Mirrors, Wonderland's neighboring kingdom.

I smelled like a pig. I hadn't had a chance to change, to wear something clean in that week of time. All my things were already back in the palace. And I looked different than before.

My hair fell to the bottom of my shoulder blades, and was always pulled back, and I wore the most modern things I had. A pair of what I had learned were jeans while I was in Mirrors, and a black polo shirt. My rapier, Lutwidge, was buckled onto my waist, and the handle was in easy reach still, as well.

"I'm up," I hissed at Cheshire, who took a few steps back, grinning a bit, and I could have sworn if he was in his cat form his tail would be swishing back and forth.

We still had an hour's walk back to the palace, and I took it slowly, dragging it from an hour to three, pausing at a waterfall to pull my clothes off and try to scrub some of the dirt off. It didn't work, unfortunately, as the water was full of glassfish that decided it was fine to not only nip at my toes, but bite them until they bled. Glassfish were the equivalent of piranhas in the Alternate Realm, where that girl came from.

I caught a couple of the fish, however, letting them bake until they died before I gutted them, filling a small glass jar with their eggs. Glassfish eggs were precious things, and only few people dared venture into the waters to get them, considering it was so hard to catch a glassfish in clear waters, where they thrived. The eggs were considered a delicacy in Wonderland, and they would fetch a fair price if I were to need repairs on Lutwidge or any of my other precious weapons that were now residing in my room in the palace.

We walked slowly then, once again, walking towards the palace, and finally, I breathed in a bit, spotting the tower that my mother now resided in. She was old and frail last I had heard. It made me worry, but as I looked down at the clear eggs in the jar in my hand, I sighed. She was addicted to these things. Originally, the potions experts said use sparingly. I would give her only one egg, since they were the size of a nickel, on her dying day, as the last present from me to her.

Our welcome wasn't grand. Everyone was busy preparing supper for the new Queen, and as I walked the halls, I managed to avoid my old tutors, only Cheshire was sticking close enough to even bother me.

That's when I spotted her. The new Queen. Her hair was pulled back loosely with a silver chain and diamond headpiece, and around her neck hung a white heart, resting perfectly on her. She was wearing a royal blue dress that fell to her knees, made of satin, and striped stockings, blue and white, plus a pair of black leather high heels. She barely looked at me, holding her head high, and I felt my heart nearly skip a beat.

She had become beautiful, and she barely noticed me. Not only that, she was only sixteen. And probably a better Queen than my mother.

Sixteen.

I flinched at the age. I was seventeen. I should have been brought back to the kingdom to take over. But, no, never.

She was queen now. My hands flexed into fists and I stopped in the middle of the hallway, wheeling around on my heels to look at the Queen, eyes probably a deep red. "I should have been King!" I snapped as I looked at her. She turned around to look at me, a bit confused, her eyes focusing on mine, and I saw her shrink back, but quickly regained her composure.

"And who would you be?" Her speech had become even more refined since I first saw her.

I smirked a bit and folded my arms over my chest. "You are a lowly commoner that outwitted the true Queen of Wonderland by using the wit that she was kind enough to bestow upon you." This was going to be easier. I was smarter than her. Well, at least I hoped I was.

She laughed softly, her ladies in waiting moving to stop her from replying. "Considering in the fact that she had any wit, I was doing her a favor by protecting people that she supposedly cared for. And you are a cheat and a liar and should have been beheaded long ago by wherever you came from. Besides, you're just a commoner as well."

My eyes turned black, but I held my ground. She huffed and turned around, walking off, her ladies following her like little ducks.

This was going to be an enjoyable experience, breaking her down.

After a slow and excruciating dinner, I followed her, sticking to the shadows, planning to prove her wrong about the fact of being a commoner. I had the marking of the King engraved in my chest, a truly painful process.

I found her in her chambers, sitting at her desk, writing on a piece of paper. When she noticed me, she stood, staring at me for the longest time before speaking.

"Why are you here?"

"What right do you have to say I am a commoner when you are what you now hate?"

She flinched at my words, but stayed where she was, behind the desk. I was in front of her instantly, lips curling back as she backed up against the wall, having only a bookshelf on her right, blocking her, and on her left, I had concocted a barrier. I assumed she was going to scream, but she didn't, even when I closed the space between us, making us only an inch apart.

"I am no commoner, Alice of Wonderland," I said quietly as I looked down at her. "I have the carving on my chest to prove I am not."

"Show me."

The words threw me back.

"What?"

"Show me the carving then, _Prince_." She spat.

Rolling my eyes, I took her hands in mind, and she first tried to jerk them away, but when I tightened my grip, she gave in, allowing me to bring her hands up setting them on the buttons of my shirt.

"Go on then," I told her quietly.

She carefully undid the buttons, and there were places she could see that were silvery pink still, and around my neck was a piece of skin that was not entirely healed yet. It was a band of runes, and above my heart was a heart shaped rune. A few moments later, I felt her hands gently run over the rune above my heart and my eyes squinted. A wince.

"You're not lying," she mumbled under her breath.

The runes ran down to my stomach, ending at my naval. But I looked away then, ignoring her until I felt her tug my shirt gently towards her. As I looked towards her, she leaned up, pressing her lips to mine.

My memories surged. My body moved of its own accord, arms wrapping around her waist gently, pulling her against me, her own hands moving up to twist in my hair, our bodies pressing against each other.

It wasn't that I was worried about, it was the memories that came after.

"_Come, Artemis." I looked up at my father, bewildered, hand finding his sleeve, sticking close as I looked around the room we were in. It was more of a hallway, the stone walls around me reminding me of the dungeons I had once ventured into. There were small slits in the walls that served as windows. _

_My father led me silently to the chamber at the end of the hallway, where his most trusted guard was standing. The guard stepped aside, opening the heavy wooden door for us, and as we slipped inside, I noticed the look of sympathy he shot towards me. As my hands started to shake, I realized where I was._

_The Carving Chamber._

_There were all sorts of strange tools laid out on a steel tray that was on a table. And next to that table was a bed that had thick leather straps that were used to strap someone down._

_Easily, my father picked me up, sitting me on the bed without a word, kissing my forehead._

"_What's going on, Papas?" I asked him quietly, but he only shook his head and moved away._

_That's when I saw them. The Sardonic Ones. _

_Sardonic meant sarcastic. _

_And Cheshire, who was grinning wildly, holding a book in his hands as he walked towards me._

_I barely knew what happened next._

_I remembered that the Carving Chamber was for the Rune Implantation process. Something all of our kings when through in their life time. Normally it would have been at an older age, around fifteen. I was ten. These marks would slowly be engraved into my body throughout the years. Today they were just starting them._

_Two of the Sardonic pulled away my shirt, with no words, strapping down my wrists, my waist, and my ankles. And then Cheshire was there, holding my shoulders down, setting his head near mine, purring in my ear_

"_Welcome to Hell." _

_That's when things went black. _

I pulled away from Alice, staring down at her, her horror filled eyes focusing on mine. So she had picked up a few of Cheshire's tricks. It was hard to master the technique she had just used on me, however, which made me jealous. I was still perfecting it.

"You won't back down, right?" She asked frantically as she ran her hand over the heart rune, her fingers finding the strangest places to stop, as she did, however, it hovered over the rune in the middle of my chest, one shaped much like a star, the lines running over the others, making the star stretch further than it should have.

My mind was just glad she hadn't pried further.

"Back down?"

"From the throne," she mumbled, smiling as gently as possible before looking away. "Right? You won't…"

I stared down at her. "Why should I assume it?"

"Because I can't rule Wonderland alone," she muttered, head falling to rest on my chest, and I could feel the tears falling against my newest runes. It was only one or two weeks old. "And I know you are the Prince now, the one that protected me when I first came here."

And then… she collapsed.


	6. Chapter 4 Of Fighting A Cat And Queens

Sorry this took like forever, guys. I've been busy. I'm glad my play fell through. But! I'm back now! I'm writing a new collaboration with the same guy that wrote Bastion from Fate and Fated. I'll be posting that on Fiction Press, though. I'll put my pen name on my profile as soon as I get a chance, guys!

I hope you like this one, I'll post a new chapter as soon as I get a chance.

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**Chapter 4**

**Point of View – The Unknown Queen, Alice**

"Wake up!"

I groaned, not really wanting to wake up just yet. But the windows to my room where open, the morning light blinding me. It was frigid. The fireplace must not have been lit yet, and even under my comforter, I was shivering. Cheshire was sitting over me, grinning manically as normal.

"Get away from her, Cheshire," Artemis was in the doorway, and had moved to pull the cat away. As he did, my mind slipped back to when I first met him. He looked so innocent compared to now, but for some reason, no, he was definitely falling around his waist, and his silver eyes were focused on my face.

"I don't have to," Cheshire snarled as he broke free of Artemis' grip, sitting on my bed, nearly on top of me.

Artemis growled. "Back down, Knave!" I didn't realize what was happening until after it had happened. Artemis had dug his hands deep into Cheshire's shirt, pulling him from my bed and throwing him against the wall of my room.

The cat did leave, however, slinking off, leaving me and the Prince alone.

"You're Ten, right?" I asked uneasily as I stood.

"Ace, actually," he said softly, picking up the heavy comforter that had covered me only seconds before.

"Can you explain something to me?" I asked suddenly, remembering the tank above the cold fireplace that was full of water, yet had no fish.

He nodded, tilting his head. "Of course. Ask away."

"Why is that fish tank empty?" I pointed to the tank.

His eyes flickered to it, and he smiled, not grinned, but smiled, gently even. "It's glassfish," he replied quietly. "Most likely the domestic breed, which are smaller than the wild ones." He stood, passing his hand over the logs, the flames flickering out of nowhere. They roared to life then, the fish in the tank suddenly appearing.

They were spectral colored, scales reflecting the light brilliantly, glittering. There was about ten of them, tiny, about the size of a silver dollar from my world.

Artemis had sat down then, his eyes focusing on me once again. "I extremely dislike this…" he said as he leaned back, moving one foot up to rest against the arm rest, the other on the floor. His arm rested on the propped up knee, his chin resting on that arm, giving him the look of a portrait. He looked like a king. The King.

"Dislike what?" I asked quietly, trying to be as graceful as possible as I sat down, folding my legs underneath me. I had decided to sit on the floor.

"They decided to force me into being King. Which means we need a new Ace…"

"How do you get that…?" Okay, now I was curious.

He looked at me, surprise on his face, grinning slightly before shaking his head. "Are you sure that you really want to know?" he asked as he moved to sit beside me, an arm wrapping around my waist, pulling me against him.

Being this close to him was not a very enjoyable experience. "Yes, I do," I mumbled quietly.

He sighed and leaned back a bit, shaking his head before speaking then. "Reproduction. And see…"

"Because you are now Queen and his father is dead, the obvious choice is for you, with Artemis, or you and I, to have a child."

It was Cheshire. The words did not surprise me, but I felt my hands shake a bit as I tried to remember what I had learned in etiquette lessons, how to behave when faced with this kind of situation.

But Artemis was standing before my thought process finished, standing, pulling a dagger out of nowhere and throwing it at the cat. It hit home in Cheshire's arm, causing him to yowl in pain, drawing back, nearly collapsing in my room, but he slowly started to disappear, the only thing left being his mischievous grin.

Outside, I heard the snow coming down, and as I got up, I headed for the window, looking at the suits that were falling. Diamonds as red as rubies and sharp as nails, hearts as lush as velvet and dark as blood, clubs that looked as if the clover they were fashioned after and had the same green smell, and then the spades, sharp as arrowheads but beautiful all the same. That was the snow of Wonderland, not the normal snowflakes that fell other places. As they touched the ground, they faded to white and broke apart into the normal snow they would be anywhere else.

I closed my eyes, flinching a bit when I felt a hand on my shoulder. My maid had appeared, out of nowhere.

Her pale skin stood out against her black outfit, and she had her almost white hair pulled up into a tight bun, and her cloudy blue eyes were focused on me as I turned around.

"Get out, Prince," she said in her weakening voice, waving her hand to him, and he instantly got up, leaving.

I was left alone with my maid.

She braided my hair tightly back, and then let it hang down my back. She fitted me into a tight corset dress with black ribbons in the back and a blue satin dress. I adored blue satin now that I had become the Queen. I had a white ribbon choker for my neck, and the crown that was traditionally worn, the silver one with a heart shaped sapphire in the middle. It was made to change colors, and now the heart that rested against my forehead like an Indian headpiece was the original color. I was also made to wear a pair of black flat shoes.

When she was done, she smiled at me regretfully before she headed out of the room. I followed, but stopped when I saw Cheshire waiting for me, my feet wanting to go back, but my legs were frozen to the spot.

"Hello, Queen," he hummed, moving closer, grinning largely.

Artemis had his arm around my waist then, smiling gently down at me, pulling me against him.

Cheshire hissed. He clenched his fists, but stayed where he was and as I looked up at Artemis, he turned away, eyes smoldering.

"What does the Queen have to do today?" Artemis asked me quietly, smiling after a few moments.

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So, well, what does the Queen have to do today? 

Don't forget to Review. ^.^


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